


These Are the Days of Our Lives

by crockershaven



Category: Haven - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 02:35:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5726572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crockershaven/pseuds/crockershaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>alternate universe - the rejoining never happened</p>
            </blockquote>





	These Are the Days of Our Lives

**Author's Note:**

> This is hopefully not a one off - obviously once you finish the story, you will have some questions - I hope to be able to answer those questions in later chapters. We'll see how this chapter does.
> 
> Also, this is AU - the rejoining of Audrey and Mara never happened.

Duke had to admit. They had a pretty great system going. He’d get up in the morning, while his wife was still sleeping and head to the Gull to get all the morning preparations done. He’d get back to the house just in time to help his wife get their two kids, ages two years and ten months, awake and dressed and get breakfast ready. It helped that Nathan’s two kids were also the same age, the two oldest born within hours of each other and the two youngest born within two days of each other. When everyone had had breakfast and was ready to go, Duke would pile them in his truck, kiss his wife goodbye and send her on her way to work. Then he’d head to Nathan’s, where he’d pick up the two Wuornos children while Nathan and his wife said their goodbyes and then he’d head to the Rouge so the kids could play, the babies could nap, they could all have lunch, and then they’d nap again before the other three adults finished their days of work and they’d all meet back up at the Gull for dinner. 

Duke supposed that he could watch the kids at the Crocker house or the Wuornos house, but the Rouge was small and it was so much easier to contain the children. Which, he needed. Especially when he needed to feed the babies their morning bottles and the toddlers had no inclination of playing quietly or listening to a damn word he said. “If you two don’t stop it,” he said warningly to Morgan Nathaniel Crocker and Alexis Hannah Wuornos. The two toddlers looked at him and then at each other before bursting into laughter and running back to the playroom, which had once been his old bedroom. 

He looked down at his little namesake, Kieran Duke Wuornos, and his own daughter, Elliana Gloria Crocker, and just shook his head. The babies giggled around their bottles, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Okay, you two stay here. I need to go track down your siblings,” Duke shifted the babies from his arms to the floor, where they sat side by side and calmly drank their bottles. All hope for a morning nap was now out the window because as soon as Kieran and Elli were done, they’d toss the bottles aside and crawl for toys instead of falling asleep in Duke’s arms, as planned. 

Duke crept towards the playroom, peeking inside without drawing the attention of the toddlers. He closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose when he found both toddlers, stripped naked and comparing belly buttons. It was, at the very least, not the worst thing they could do but he knew it would be a matter of time before one of them tugged too hard and made the other cry. He snuck in, tiptoeing, and picked them both up, tossing them in the air and then over his shoulders. “Gotcha ya!” he yelled in a deep voice.

Morgan and Lexie both burst into gales of laughter as Duke carried them back out to the living room. When Kieran and Elli saw their ridiculous siblings, they let out simultaneous bursts of laughter as Duke wrestled Morgan and Lexie to the floor and got them dressed, yet again. He didn’t bother to put shoes or socks on them as the boat was warm enough to keep their feet toasty and he didn’t feel like giving them four more items they could take off and throw aside. He leaned back on his heels, looking down at the two toddlers. “How about a snack? Are you hungry?” he moved his fingers through Morgan’s long and messy hair while reaching out to gently pull on one of Lexie’s pigtails. 

“Snack?!” Morgan’s eyes lit up, much like his fathers. “Gay-pes? Yo-gut?” he asked, looking over at Lexie. Everything he suggested had to be approved by his partner in crime. Lexie nodded her head, holding her arms up to Duke to be picked up. “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” she chanted in agreement. Duke shifted Lexie to one hip and picked Morgan up on his other. He carried them to the galley and set them in their seats. He went to the fridge for pre-cut grapes and two containers of yogurt. He put the grapes in bowls and opened the yogurts, bringing each toddler their preferred spoon and putting bibs on them. While they dug in, Duke went and got Kieran and Elli from the floor, moving to sit down with the toddlers while they ate, hoping to rescue naptime for the infants. Lunch time would be ridiculous if the babies got overtired. 

Morgan looked down, gasping when he saw his yogurt. “Blue! Blue, Daddy!” he said as he lifted some on his spoon to show Duke. Duke grinned widely, blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes. “I know! I gave you blue cause it’s your favorite color! What about you, Lex? What color do you have?” he asked her. Lexie looked down and then looked up with her father’s bright eyes. She grinned softly at Duke, a smile that was all her mother. “Pee-nk! Me got pee-nk!” she exclaimed, holding it up on her spoon to show Duke. He grinned brightly at her. “That’s right, Lex! Good job!” He sat back, watching as the toddlers examined their grapes, trading tastes of their yogurt with each other. 

He heard a bottle drop and looked down, his heart practically singing in his chest when he saw that Elli was sound asleep and Kieran was on his way. He carefully stood up, moving to lay Elli down in her crib, covering her with a blanket before moving Kieran to his shoulder, rubbing his back and swaying side to side until he felt the little boy finally give in and fall asleep. He waited another couple of minutes before laying Kieran down in his crib, covering him up. He put the monitor on, despite the lack of space in the boat, and closed the door. Clipping the monitor to his belt, he sat down at the table again with the toddlers. “After your snack would you like to watch … Bubble Guppies?!” he asked. While all four parents were slightly strict about screen time, the toddlers adored Bubble Guppies and it was something they could watch and learn from and it gave Duke the twenty minutes he needed to get their lunch together. 

Morgan and Lexie began to cheer, although they were automatically quieter because they knew their siblings were sleeping. Lexie nodded her head, looking over at the clock like she knew what time the show came on. It didn’t matter, since Duke had about a dozen episodes DVR’d and at his disposal whenever he needed them. “Um … bus Guppie?” she asked, tipping her head. Duke grinned at her and then looked at Morgan. “Does that sound like a good episode to you?” he asked. Morgan nodded and when the toddlers were done, Duke cleaned them up and then plunked them in their little padded chairs with their names on them, turning on the field trip episode that both toddlers seemed to love. Once they were settled, Duke replied to the few texts he’d gotten from both Wuornos parents and his own wife, assuring them all that all was good at the asylum. When he was done, he washed his hands and started to make lunch. 

Halfway through lunch, he caught himself singing a song from the show and he hung his head with a laugh, the hair that had escaped his ponytail hanging in his face. He put the knife he was using down and shook his hair out, pulling it back up into a ponytail. “I really need to start listening to adult music again,” he muttered as he finished making Morgan and Lexie their lunches. He waited until he heard the credits for the show playing and then he gathered up the toddlers, bringing them to the bathroom to wash their hands before sitting them back at the table. He gave them their lunches and their cups before grabbing his phone, texting the Wuornoses and his wife, asking what they’d all like for dinner. 

The Gull now opened at 7 so that Duke could cook dinner for the two families and they’d have time to eat and get cleaned up before the restaurant opened for outside customers. It was something Duke really enjoyed doing and once he’d gotten a unanimous vote on dinner, he set about figuring out the schedule for the afternoon so he had enough time to get the kids over to the Gull, fully fed and fully napped, with enough time to cook. Luckily, Morgan and Lexie took nice long afternoon naps, enough time for him to get the babies up from their nap, get them fed lunch, and get them back down for an hour before they all had to get in the car and over to the Gull. 

Of course, the planning and the ideas he had while all the kids were asleep never actually worked out and at a little after five that night, he walked into the Gull with four crying children. Morgan and Lexie were attached to his legs and he had Kieran and Elli in each arm. He saw the two wives were there all ready and had never been so excited in his life. Lexie immediately let go of Duke’s leg and ran for her mother, sniffling as Mara picked her up and curled her into her chest. “What is the matter, baby mine?” Mara murmured against her hair as she held onto her, rubbing her back easily. Lexie let out a cry and a string of toddler babble that had Mara looking in Duke’s direction.

Passing Elli off to Audrey, along with a quick kiss to her lips, Duke threw his free hand up in the air. “I … have no idea. We were in the truck on the way here, they were in the back giggling and we were singing songs and then Lexie started to cry and then Elli was crying and then Morgan and Kieran lost it,” he lifted his leg high enough so that he could sit Morgan on a stool next to Mara. “Kieran, I do know what is wrong and you’ve got your arms full of crying toddler, so I’ll go change him,” Duke grabbed the diaper bag and headed for the bathroom with an upset Kieran in his arms. Mara burst out laughing, which startled Lexie, causing the little girl to stop crying and look up at Mara. “What funny?” she asked.

Mara just laughed, pressing a kiss to Lexie’s forehead as she wrapped an arm around Morgan, hugging him close to her and rubbing his back while Audrey sat down in one of the comfier chairs, curling Elli close to her so that she could nurse the little girl. Audrey looked up at Mara, waiting for her to stop laughing. “Kieran is just. like. Nathan. I swear to God. When Nathan has to go to the bathroom, he’s crankier than hell. Whe Kieran has a dirty diaper, he’s ridiculous about needing to get cleaned immediately. He will freak out, even if you’re changing him. He can’t handle it. He’s going to potty train himself just to get out of diapers.”

Audrey started to laugh at that and the two sisters were still laughing when Nathan came into the Gull. Seeing that Nathan had free arms, Morgan ran for his uncle and his namesake, snuggling in to Nathan’s chest when Nathan picked him up. “Rough afternoon?” he asked Duke as the other man came out of the back with a now calm and clean Kieran. “It wasn’t until we all got in the car and then I don’t know. They all lost their damn minds!” he said a little desperately as he traded sons with Nathan, letting Nathan go over to kiss Mara and say his afternoon hellos. Nathan looked down at Lexie, kissing her nose. “Why are you upset?” he asked her softly. Lexie pouted at him. “Moh-gan gonna git mah booty!” she said in an angry tone. 

Audrey let out a deep sigh, looking over at Duke. “This is your fault. You are the one that wanted to name that boy after Captain Morgan and I was so out of it after three days of contractions and pushing out 11 pounds of Crocker spawn that I agreed! Even Mara warned you against naming him after Captain Morgan, but no. You were just SO pleased with yourself for picking that name. Now he’s got Lexie scared he’s gonna take her booty!” Duke bit the inside of his lip, trying so hard not to laugh. He had waited until Audrey was pretty much out of it, tucked in their bed after she’d finally delivered their son after days of labor and hours of pushing, to spring the name on her but he hadn’t expected this. 

While he was pondering on that, Morgan wiggled out of his arms and moved over, crawling back up onto the stool next to Mara. “Not your bum booty,” Morgan said, shaking his two pointer fingers in the air in a “no no” manner. “Pirate booty! Hidden booty!” he said. Lexie stared down at him, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not. “Not mah bum?” she asked, pressing her hand against her diapered bottom. Morgan shook his head, fingers wagging in the air again. “No! Pirate booty! Arrrrr,” Morgan tried to close one eye like it had a patch over it and Duke lost it. He excused himself to the back to get dinner started before he encouraged Morgan’s pirate behavior with his laughter. 

Audrey rolled her eyes, switching Elli to the other side. “I am never, ever letting that man name another one of our children. Not ever again,” she dropped her head back with a sigh as the toddlers wiggled down and ran outside to their little spot next to the restaurant where they could dig. Nathan watched them for a moment, shaking his head with a quiet laugh. When he heard Duke moving around in the back, he waited for a quiet moment before he called out to his best friend. 

“Whatever booty Lexie helps Morgan find, we all split it 50/50!”


End file.
